Past Presidents

Falkirk Camera Club Past Presidents

Right from its earliest incarnation, as Falkirk Amateur Photographic Association (FAPA), the camera club has elected men and women prepared to lead and represent the club via the role of club President. The first President of FAPA was William Graham back in 1889 and, indeed, most of the Presidents of FAPA up till 1907 can be identified from newspaper archives. However it is not until the birth of Falkirk Camera Club in 1958 that sufficient information can be found to identify many further Presidents.This section shows all of the FCC Past Presidents, listed chronologically (by first year of office) – but without reproducing the portraits where someone has served as President in separated terms. Beneath each President there is listed the year of the start of each of their Presidencies eg. 1958 would indicate a Presidency covering 1958-59. Portraits have been gleaned from the individuals themselves, club records and, most commonly, via the help of family or friends of the Past President. Thanks go to all who provided the images which helped make this a complete set of portraits.

First FCC President (1958)Leslie Stewart Donald Smith was FCC’s first President. It is known that he had been a member of Bonnybridge CC before moving to Falkirk where he joined East Stirling CC. Records show that he was Secretary of ESCC in 1955 but it is not known if he held that, or any other post in ESCC before it became FCC in 1958. Leslie retired as Chief Engineer from British Aluminium in 1969 and he moved to the Sussex Downs to enjoy his retirement.

First Lady President (1973)Mary Fotheringham was elected as the club’s first lady President in 1973. However Mary had been elected a Vice President the previous year, with Walter Acton having been made President. Unfortunately Walter died before the start of the 1972-73 season and so Mary acted as President for that season prior to her ‘official’ first Presidency in 1973-74.

Other AchievementsWhilst the above are the most notable ‘firsts’ in FCCs Past Presidents, there are several other achievements worthy of recall. Note that, in general, it is now the ‘norm’ to elect a President on the expectation that he/she will serve for two consecutive terms ie. 2 years. Sometimes circumstances have prevented that happening and so individuals may only have served a single year as President. On other occasions circumstances have led to a former President being re-elected after an absence of one or more years.

So, who was the first person to serve as President over separated terms ?This is Crawford Smith who was first elected as President in 1975, and served one term, but was re-elected (serving 2 years this time) in 1981. To complete his record, Crawford was again elected as President in 1985.

Whose terms of office have the longest time gap between them ?This is Allistair Kean who first served as President in 1986 (and 1987) then 20 years later, in 2007 Allistair was made President again before completing his fourth term of office in 2008.

And, finally, who has held the office of President for the most number of terms?This is Mick Cameron who, at the end of his latest term (in 2017) will have completed eight terms as President : 1993; 1998; 1999; 2001; 2002; 2011, 2012 and 2016